Marlies work in progress for new GM
Defence prospect Rosen leads Leaf farm team in wake of heavy turnover
Laurence Gilman joked when he took the helm of the Toronto Marlies that his job was not to screw it up. Gilman, hired over the summer as assistant general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, took over as GM of the Marlies as part of his portfolio. He is replacing the man who hired him, Kyle Dubas, now GM of the Leafs. If anyone has “screwed up” the Marlies — they sat fifth in the AHL’s North Division through Friday, nine points out of first with a couple of games in hand — it has been Dubas, who promoted six members of the Calder Cup championship team and left Gilman with some pretty big holes to fill in a league where roster turnover is the only constant.
This is quite a different Marlies team than the Calder Cup version. What’s your assessment so far?
A work in progress. Any time a team wins a championship and comes back, there are always challenges, especially a developmental team. Whether it’s graduation of talent — like Andreas Johnsson, Frederik Gauthier, Justin Holl — or players like Miro Aaltonen who move on. While our players competed hard, it’s taken them a little time to settle in. In addition to that, with the waiver claims on goaltending with Calvin Pickard and Curtis McElhinney, there was a confluence of events that conspired to give our team a little bit of a challenge with respect to focus. And we’ve had injuries. But Sheldon Keefe and his staff have done a good job. We’ve grinded it out. We’re in the playoff mix. And the way the team is performing, I couldn’t be happier. What have you seen in Calle Rosen to warrant a two-year extension?
He’s been the No. 1 defenceman on the team. He’s led our team in ice time virtually every game. He can score. He plays in all situations. He kills penalties. He’s on the power play. He’s proving that his game is evolving. As you know the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be a team that is going to have some players that are at the top of the salary cap. It’s incumbent on us to have players that we believe we can insert into the roster that are cost-efficient. In Calle’s case, we’re happy with his performance and the evolution of his game. The confidence exists throughout our hockey department that he is going to make the next step and play in the NHL both next year and the year after. How important is it to find cost-efficient players, like Rosen, where you start them with the Marlies to feed them to the Leafs?
It’s not the first time it’s been done. It’s incumbent upon this operation to graduate multiple players year after year so that we have a pipeline of efficiently priced players that cannot just go play in the NHL, but can also contribute. To that end, Calle Rosen is probably the best example on our current roster. There are others: Trevor Moore, Garret Sparks. That’s a big part of the job. We’re obviously trying to win games and win championships, but we’re trying to create a culture of accountability. But at the end of the day, the Marlies are the reservoir of talent that exists to replenish the Toronto Maple Leafs. What have you thought of Rasmus Sandin?
The AHL is a really hard league for any young player, particularly hard for a European player — although Rasmus is a bit of hybrid because he was drafted (from the OHL). He could have gone to play in Sweden, or he could have played for Sault. Ste. Marie, or he could have played for the Marlies. He got hurt coming out of training camp. Our primary concern was getting him healthy. Once he got healthy, our plan was to put him in the Marlies and assess his contribution. You see he can play at this level. It’s fair to say he has performed exceptionally. He was the first player born in the year 2000 to score a goal in the American Hockey League. He’s played a regular shift, averaging 20 minutes a game. He’s produced offensively, defensively. He looks incredibly comfortable. While he has a long way to go to get to the NHL, he has really proved adept at this level and played with a tremendous amount of confidence. How about Timothy Liljegren, before he got hurt?
Timothy kind of mirrored the team: a bit up, a bit down. As the season unfolded, he started to gain form. It’s a bit unfortunate for him that he got hurt (high ankle sprain on Dec. 1) when he did because his game was really trending upward in the right direction. He gets the puck up the ice and makes plays.